The Education Division tries to be a pro-active arm of the commission.
Because of the nature of the commission, much of its work is re-active in
nature. A complainant comes in, we react with the complaint. A crisis flares
up somewhere in the state and we react in whatever way we can. A company
appeals a decision, takes legal action and we react with an answer to the
appeal. Reaction is built into the nature of the agency. And that's not
necessarily bad. After all, we want to help people, yet we are not mind
readers. People need to come to us before we can respond to them. Not all
work of the commission is reactive. For example, the extensive rulemaking
the commission has engaged in the last year is a fine example of forward-looking
civil rights leadership in Iowa. The Education Division is also different.

While complaints coming into the agency obviously affect the training
component of the agency, the division does not react to complaints on a
day-to-day basis. This gives the division a certain amount of freedom to
reach out to the staff and to the public to help prepare the staff for their
mission as well as identify problems outside the agency. The work of the
division is outlined in four categories: training and development for the
state commission, training for local commissions, public education and legislative
work.

Terry Dolphin, the Education Director, is a graduate of the University
of Iowa (1972) with a bachelor's degree in psychology. He did legal research
in civil rights for attorneys in Iowa City prior to graduation and thereafter
became an investigator for the Waterloo Commission on Human Rights. He started
with the state commission in 1974 as Director of Pattern and Practice Investigations.
He has had experience with individual investigations as well and supervisory
experience. His position of Education and Staff Development Director he
has held since 1976. Mr. Dolphin is Vice-president for Training for the
Nebraska-Iowa Association of Human Rights Workers and a member of the Des
Moines Chapter of the American Society for Training and Development.

TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT STATE COMMISSION

The training program at the Iowa Civil Rights Commission has two major
components: classroom training followed by on-the-job training (OJT). Mr.
Dolphin conducts the classroom component and the Compliance Supervisors
handle OJT for the investigators assigned to them.

We teach the two-week classroom session in two parts. In the first part
we begin by orienting the new employees to the commission's structure and
internal procedures, as well as, introducing them to the rest of the staff.
The main thrust of part one is to present the law, theory and dynamics of
discrimination. Then in part two, we require the new trainee to take less
of a passive role in his or her training by applying the principles from
part one in training exercises designed to simulate the actual work. They
begin by writing investigative plans and finish by analyzing a case, drawing
their own conclusions and writing the summary of the investigation.

The field training or OJT has the same general progression from passive
to active involvement on the part of the trainee, although the setting is
much different. The Compliance Supervisors expect trainees to take responsibility
for scheduling appointments and preparing the case. Trainees accompany the
supervisor to the respondent's place of business. At first they mostly observe
the supervisor conducting the investigation. With later on-site visits to
other respondents, however, the trainee takes on more and more of the responsibility
for directing the investigation.

There were a total of four classes that went through the training in
FY-79. Those in attendance numbered 22 altogether. As in previous years,
the content of the training has evolved and, we hope, improved in the last
year. We needed to update the training to be able to tell the trainees how
the agency functions after the legislative changes that took place in FY-78.
The General Assembly passed House File 2390 during the previous fiscal year
which included a number of procedural and substantive changes in the way
our agency operates. In addition, we added a section on inspecting a respondent's
records which we feel has been helpful. Evolvement is a constant process
in the training at the Iowa Civil Rights Commission. In the future, we will
be changing the format again so as to alternate classroom and field experience
in consecutive but shorter sessions. We are hoping that the actual on-site
experience will enrich the classroom training and provide a better balance
between experience and theory at a critical point in the learning process.
Further plans on the drawing board include the implementation of a formal
clerical orientation. Hopefully next year we'll be able o report on successes
in this area!

Now, more than ever, conciliators for the Iowa Civil Rights Commission,
need to be skillful in the art of negotiation. 1978 amendments to our law
allow for the possibility for a broader range of remedies and damages including
damages for pain and humiliation. Therefore, in FY-79 we started a course
in negotiating for both conciliators and for people working with the early
settlement project. Those people working on the Preintake/Rapid Charge Project
have other specific training needs as well. So, we also provided training
for the Project personnel, too. Other staff development seminars included
a presentation on interpersonal conflict resolution, conducted by Mr. Dolphin,
and a full day time management workshop conducted by Dr. Michael Cavitt,
of the Institute for Public Affairs, University of Iowa. Mr. Dolphin, himself,
attended a week-long seminar on statistics conducted by the U.S. Civil Service
Commission.

TRAINING - LOCAL COMMISSION

There are 22 local civil rights commissions in the state of Iowa. Twelve
of these have at least one staff person employed. Although for the sake
of efficiency, we prefer to train local commissioners and staff in our office,
this is not always possible. So, our Education Director did travel to one
local commission, Cedar Falls. In the future we would like to see local
training done more on a regional basis with several commissions at a time.
We see an increasingly more viable network forming among the state civil
rights commission and the twenty-two locals. We would like to share our
talent and resources with them as much as possible. A recent Iowa Supreme
Court decision, Westinghouse Learning Corporation vs. City of Iowa City
Human Rights Commission, requires that the local commissions "track
the Iowa Civil Rights Commission" in their procedures. Unfortunately,
the Court did not accompany that statement with guidelines as to just how
the "tracking" is to be accomplished. In the absence of such guidelines,
the question is open for the courts, perhaps even the Iowa Supreme Court,
to interpret. No one knows if the Court intended the local commissions to
roughly approximate the procedures of the Iowa Civil Rights Commission or
to, in fact, be a mirror image. In any event many of the local commissions
have begun revising their ordinances as a result. Being a mirror image may
be very costly for some of the local commissions, so we await to see just
how strict the courts will be.

PUBLIC EDUCATION - RESEARCH

Although the main responsibility for public education lies with the Education
Director, there are a number of other staff people who have the opportunity
to inform people of their rights and responsibilities pertaining to the
Iowa Civil Rights Act. Mr. Thomas Mann, Jr., our Executive Director and
Ms. Shirley Steele and Mr. Ray Perry, and Ms. Victoria Herring, three assistant
attorneys general, assigned to our agency, all had a number of speaking
engagements. Likewise, Deanne Poore, the Affirmative Action Director and
Deborah Gunnison, the Developmental Disabilities Director, took advantage
of the opportunity to educate people.

Code of Iowa, Chapter 601A.5 Powers and Duties

(3) To investigate and study the existence, character, causes and extent
of discrimination in public accommodations, employment, apprenticeship
programs, on-the-job training programs, vocational schools, and housing
in this state and to attempt the elimination of such discrimination
by education and conciliation.

There was a time prior to the passage of the Iowa Civil Rights Act and
the 1964 Civil Rights Act on the federal level when the only "power"
victims of discrimination and proponents of civil rights had was education.
In those days education began with a cadre of neighbors, whose anger had
finally bubbled over the crucible of fear inside of them. A makeshift human
relations council if you will. Led by a reverend or rabbi, they were headed
for a local employer/landlord/business owner, whom they considered a bigot,
to inform him of the injustice and immorality of his actions, to appeal
to his sense of fair play, in short, to educate him. When 1964 and administrative
law enforcement arrived, we neighbors rejected education as if it were a
weapon of the weak, something we had outgrown. But ironically in the words
of that very law it appears not only as a duty, but a power.

Code of Iowa, Chapter 601A.5 Powers and Duties

(6) To issue such publications and reports of investigation and research
as in the judgment of the commission shall tend to promote good will
among the various racial, religious, and ethnic groups of the state and
which shall tend to minimize or eliminate discrimination ...

The Division took part in three research projects throughout FY-79. Have
you ever been in a "sprinkled area of town?" That's how one real
estate agent described an integrated neighborhood in Council Bluffs. The
purpose of the Council Bluffs Housing Study was to do a comparative analysis
of treatment by race in both the housing rental and sales markets of Council
Bluffs. The primary thrust of the study was to determine the availability
of housing for black people in that city. In sales, this translated into,
first whether blacks are given an opportunity to buy and, second, where
and in what manner they are given that opportunity.

The basic design of the study entailed a series of two-pronged tests
or audits in which a white person and a black person, posing as prospective
renter or buyer, inquired about the availability of houses or apartments
with the same landlord or real estate firm. Testers were paired by sex,
age, employment status (professional, technical, clerical and so forth),
marital status, number of children, age of children, present living arrangements
(renting or owning), nature and amount of indebtedness, down payment capability
and income. The only difference in the matching was that concerning income
and in some cases, down payment capability; the black half of the team appeared
just a little more favorable. All testers asked for the same specifications
for a home or apartment. Thirty-two (32) testers participated.

Every tester participated in a training session prior to their encounters
with a firm or landlord. Training included simulations of encounters. In
each session, staff cautioned them to be observant but objective.

Staff assigned testers to either sales or rentals. In rentals they were
paid $5 for each encounter plus mileage to and from their destination. In
sales they were paid $10 for each encounter plus mileage to and from the
real estate office. The difference in payment was due to the fact that renters
were able to see more landlords in the same amount of time. So payments
balanced out between renters and buyers. Staff assigned destinations for
each group.

After each encounter the tester would complete a standard written report.
All reports were signed and dated. Report forms were different for renters
than for buyers. Staff required the tester to complete the report before
being assigned to the next stop so as not to confuse their experiences.
Each half of the team completed their reports independently of the other
half. The study was blind in that the left hand did not know how the right
hand was treated. Counterparts were forbidden to discuss their experiences
so that they could not be influenced on their next encounter.

The study covered nine (9) real estate firms and eight (8) landlords
and one (1) rental referral service. Brokers were selected by a simple random
sample and landlords were selected from the newspaper and referral service.
Both brokers and landlords included large and small businesses. The design
of the study entailed three series of tests. The pilot study was
merely a dry run to work out any logistical and mechanical problems. Substantive
results were not important. A month later we ran the initial test and
a month after that we ran the second test.

Our conclusions indicate that there is no question that some real estate
companies in Council Bluffs engaged openly in racial steering. Our study
further proposes that these practices in their various forms are pervasive
in that city. Also, the number and nature of the racial remarks reported
by testers is cause for alarm. These comments went so far as to flaunt openly
violations of the law in the presence of citizens. There were a number of
related patterns that emerged including: outright refusal to serve, a reduced
level of service, a general pattern of discouragement towards blacks on
the part of agents and assumptions about the financial capability of blacks.
Another pattern was that agents had a tendency to avoid being seen introducing
blacks into a neighborhood. The practice seems to go on a scale that runs
in the following order:.

1 . No effort to give any listing or gives very few in the office.

2. Makes suggestions in the office, but makes no effort to take people
into neighborhoods.

3. Feigns an effort to inspect homes, but has lots of excuses: can't
get the key, would have to make appointment, not while people are at home,
not much for your money.

4. Tells Blacks to drive past property by themselves.

5. Agent drives them through the neighborhoods but does not get out
of the car.

6. Inspects a house with them, but it is in a new, fairly vacant subdivision
or even out in the country, when homes are available closer in.

Comments made by the Countryside Real Estate agent lead us to believe
that this avoidance pattern is part of an unwritten ethic among sales people
about such matters. Apparently, the payoff is that this is a way the salesperson
can appease the buyers without upsetting the neighbors nor blemishing their
own reputation among their peers.

The bottom line assessment based on our sample is that eight out of nine
brokers in Council Bluffs discriminate to one degree or another. That means
that one's chances of encountering discrimination in the Council Bluffs
sales market is approximately 88%.

On the rental side, discrimination seemed to lodge itself most often
into eight different areas. They were as follows: outright denial of the
availability of the dwelling, higher rent for blacks, higher security deposits,
a later date of availability for blacks, credit checks, applications, additional
units suggested for whites and racial comments.

Judging from comments intimated to 'white testers and the consistencies
we discovered in the behavior of agents and landlords we conclude overall
that there seemed to be two assumptions operating. The first was that this
is the way things are supposed to be and, second, that others - even total
strangers - share that view. In cooperation with the Council Bluffs Human
Rights Commission, we are in the process of negotiating an agreement, which
will remedy these problems, with the greater Council Bluffs Board of Realtors.

BUS INCIDENT EXPOSES HOSTILITY BETWEEN TOWNSPEOPLE AND

MESQUAKIE INDIANS

The Mesquakie Indians have a settlement on land which they own outside
of Tama, Iowa. The school district provides bus service for Mesquakie students
attending the local high school. In November of 1978, there was disruption
on one of these bus trips. In the course of the disruption, the bus driver
physically got rough with one of the Mesquakie students and allegedly verbally
abused the student. Some of the Indians sought help from the commission.
There were also several lawsuits filed in the course of events that followed
the incident. The commission held meetings both on the settlement and in
the town of Tama and afterwards decided to do a study of the problem. We
requested and received the generous support and cooperative of the U.S.
Civil Rights Commission to help us with this study. This particular project
was still in progress at the close of the fiscal year.

These two research projects call to mind the word accountability - a
word that keeps popping up. Between the covers of this report there are
numerous statistical measures of the services we provide: number of cases
processed, number of cases closed, etc. As productive as we may be, is that
really the ultimate measure of a civil rights commission and the state government
of which it is a part? Is anyone concerned about measuring and studying
the root problem -prejudice? We see a pressing need for measuring the root
problem and measuring how our work along with that of others in Iowa has
affected the root problem. The housing study in Council Bluffs, for example,
bears implications for some much needed research on other problems in Iowa.
We seem to pre-judge prejudice itself. How more precisely does it rear its
head in Iowa? How have companies, whom we have cited for violations of the
law and who have remedied complaints, changed as a result? What about the
private sector as a whole? Have one and a half decades of enforcement effort
in any way calmed the tidal wave of black unemployment? Or has that unemployment
rate surged on the heaving, high seas of the economy without enforcement
making any real difference? Will the billowing masses of unemployed come
crashing down on us like during the summer of 1968?

Code of Iowa, Chapter 601 A. 5 Powers and Duties

(6) To issue such publications and reports of investigations
and research as in the judgment of the commission shall tend to promote
good will among the various racial, religious, and ethnic groups of the
state and which shall tend to minimize or eliminate discrimination ...

The Education Division issued two publications on behalf of the Iowa
Civil Rights Commission in FY-79. The first was the Commission's Biennial
Report covering FY-77 and FY-78. We would like to extend our special thanks
to artist Allan Murray, for his heartwarming portrait of the children who
brightened the cover of the report. Also, our special thanks to Mr. Steve
Williams, the artist's agent, (Dawn Enterprises, Irvine, California) through
whom we obtained the rights to the picture. Finally, our special thanks
to Mr. Vern Lahart and Developmental Learning Materials (Niles, Illinois)
for all the technical assistance with the color printing. The second publication
was the report of the Council Bluffs housing study entitled, Don't Tell
the Civil Rights People. Both publications are still available through
the Education Division of the Iowa Civil Rights Commission. Issuing these
publications entailed large mailings which could not have been done without
the cooperation and patience of the clerical staff of the Iowa Civil Rights
Commission. Thank you to all of those who were involved in those mailings.
We extend our special thanks to Ms. Virginia McDermott, a secretary on the
Commission staff, who not only helped with mailings but also organized our
mailing list so as to make it a more efficient tool.

Code of Iowa, Chapter 601A.5 Powers and Duties

(9) to cooperate, within the limits of any appropriations made for its
operation, with other agencies or organizations, both public and private,
whose purposes are consistent with those of this chapter, and in the planning
and conducting of programs designed to eliminate racial, religious, cultural,
and intergroup tension.

There were three categories for the programs and presentations done through
the Education Division in FY-79. The categories are, first, training programs
done in cooperation with other state civil rights enforcement agencies,
second, presentations done by the Education Director, and third, programs
done through a professional association for civil rights workers.

REGIONAL CONFERENCE FOR INVESTIGATORS

In cooperation with trainers and supervisors from the Missouri Commission
on Human Rights, the Kansas Commission on Civil Rights, and the Nebraska
Equal Opportunity Commission, the Iowa Civil Rights Commission hosted a
regional conference for investigators from all four states. Both state commissions
and local commissions within each state sent representatives. We held the
two-day conference at the Hotel Savery on May 24 and 25, 1979. The conference
was team taught, using the resources and talents of all the trainers in
attendance. And it featured case simulations and individualized learning
with the help of trainers from the respective states. Thirty-two (32) attended
and all concerned felt that the conference effectively attained the goals
we had set for them.